


Of All the Thousand Ways

by hivecaptor



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff, Baking, Carlos has anxiety, Carlos is Stressed, Comfort No Hurt, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Husbands, Khoshekh - Freeform, M/M, More comfort than hurt, cecilos - Freeform, slight angst, they still have a cat because having a cat is gay culture, they're married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24208498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hivecaptor/pseuds/hivecaptor
Summary: "It's," Carlos sighed. "It's a little rough, but it'll be okay. I'll get through it."Cecil gathered Carlos into his arms, smoothing his rumpled hair with a pale, fine-boned hand. There was something about him, about his embrace that always made Carlos feel safe, even through all of the dangerous happenings of their little desert town. "I know you will."
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	Of All the Thousand Ways

_There's a voice that pulls me stumbling through a symphony, and the less of it I need, the more I get._

_Till I'm swept up by the shape of all the centuries, like an echo in the chambers of my chest._

Carlos sighed and brushed his hair out of his face. It was a vain effort, as it just drifted back down and returned to bothering him. He should have done something about the length a long time ago, but he remembered how Cecil had almost sent the town on a witch hunt after Telly the Barber last time he got his hair cut. Since then, it had grown to the middle of Carlos's back, and Cecil adored it. Right now, it was bound back with a rubber band that he had found on the couch an hour earlier when he finally tired of the distraction. He tucked the wayward lock back into the knot and returned to his work.

Carlos had been awake for long enough that the words on his screen had started to blend together. Even the title of the polymer he was researching had completely slipped his mind. He rested his head in his hands and sighed, thinking back to Cecil's words from the last time he had sacrificed his sleep scedule for the sake of a paper. He really was running himself into the ground and he knew it, but it had become increasingly difficult to shake the feeling that he was going to dissapoint his team, Dr. Kayali, and most above all, his husband. God, nothing was more important to him than Cecil.

He needed to go to sleep. He couldn't go into the weekend like that, tired and dead-eyed. It wouldn't be fair to Cecil, he was so excited for their Saturday date night. Carlos glanced glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only midnight, and despite everything in his mind telling him not to, he closed the laptop and set it aside. Letting his curls down, Carlos slipped the rubber band onto his wrist. He knew Cecil would wake up and want to play with it before Carlos tied it up to sleep.

So he stood, muscles aching, and stetched with a yawn before heading off in the direction of their bedroom. When he arrived, he just leaned against the doorframe for a moment and looked in, smiling softly. Before him lay Cecil, white hair tangled and splayed out on the pillow. No matter how much time Carlos had spent trying to teach him to take care of his longer hair, he never seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

Still, he was beautiful. 

The dark sheets that Carlos had bought when they first moved in together were woven around pale limbs like swaths of night made solid. His lips were slightly parted, and one hand reached out to the other side of the bed, the empty stretch of mattress where Carlos wasn't.

He blinked and straightened up, finally crossing the room and climbing under the duvet. The cool swish of the fabric was like heaven on his skin, but nothing could make him feel more at peace than when his husband rolled over and smiled at him, half-asleep and angelic. "Carlos," he said. "What time is it?"

Carlos kissed his cheek. "It's only midnight, Cecil. Go back to sleep."

As predicted, Cecil reached for his hair, winding a strand around his finger. "Not yet."

Carlos smiled and pulled him close. "Okay."

"How's the research?" Cecil asked softly. Carlos could tell that he was genuinely interested, even though his husband's understanding of science peaked at the little snippets he gave on the radio during the Children's Fun Fact Science Corner.

"It's," Carlos sighed. "It's a little rough, but it'll be okay. I'll get through it."

Cecil gathered Carlos into his arms, smoothing his rumpled hair with a pale, fine-boned hand. There was something about him, about his embrace that always made Carlos feel safe, even through all of the dangerous happenings of their little desert town. "I know you will."

Carlos wound his arms around his husband's waist and pressed a gentle kiss to the base of his throat. "I love you, Cecil."

"I love you too, Carlos. More than you could ever know."

He was half asleep by then, lost in the gentleness and warmth of his husband's arms, but he still had conscious enough to smile at the dark when Cecil kissed him goodnight.

Carlos awoke to soft morning light filtering through the blinds. He usually woke up while it was still dark out. What time was it? Was he late for anything? 

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he stretched an arm out for Cecil, but only met bare sheets, still slightly warm. Where was he?

Carlos swung his legs over the side of the bed and padded across the floor in the direction of the kitchen. He had forgotten to tie up his hair before falling asleep the previous night, so it was tangled and slightly flattened on one side where he had slept on it.

He made the subconscious decision to wrestle with it later, because as soon as he saw Cecil, all other thoughts left his mind.

Theit kitchen was always beautiful, especially in earlier mornings. Sheer white curtains covered the windows, diffusing the sunlight onto honey-colored cabinets, and an assortment of mismatched cookware and his collection of wooden spoons. Cecil stood in the middle of it all, stirring some sort of batter in one of the mixing bowls. Khoshekh stepped between his feet, batting at the belt of his canvas apron. Whatever he was making clearly wasn't a neat process by any means. A light dusting of flour had settled over most surfaces in the kitchen and containers of all sorts of ingredients were scattered across the counter. 

Cecil jumped when he saw him. "Carlos! I didn't think you'd be awake just yet," he said, looking around himself at the mess he had created. "I should, er, get this cleaned up, shouldn't I?" His glsses has slipped down to the end of his sharp nose and his hair was tied back with a- was that a phone charger?

Carlos crossed the kitchen and placed his hands on Cecil's waist, kissing his cheek where a little smudge of batter was smeared across his cheek. "Don't worry about it," he said, laughing softly. "What's all this?"

Cecil scratched the back of his head. "It's a recipe that Earl gave me. I think it's supposed to be pancakes, but as you can see, I appear to have gotten a bit lost."

"You're adorable."

He floundered, face reddening. " I wanted to surprise you, I know you've had a hard time with work and all, I'm sorry for the mess-"

Carlos just hugged him, accidentally knocking his glasses askew. "Thank you, Cecil."

He laughed and readjusted them. "Anything." Cecil wiped the batter smudge off of his cheek. "Now let me go so I can finish these."

"Alright, but you better let me taste test."

_Carried by the current of the morning, miles below the surface of the dawn._

_This is not the place that I was born in, but it doesn't mean it's not the place where I belong._

**Author's Note:**

> Title and quotes at the beginning and the end are from 'Bees' by The Ballroom Thieves. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy my ramblings about domestic Cecilos :,)


End file.
